How the LA Memorial Coliseum seat and sun data is measured

Every number comes from a USGS lidar survey of the stadium, NOAA solar equations, the USC section numbering and published row lists. Nothing is estimated from photos.

Sources

Stadium shape: USGS 3D Elevation Program lidar, Los Angeles County 2023 collection, flown 22 October 2023, about 15 points per square metre. First-return points gridded to 1 m, noise removed.
Section directions: the section order round the bowl from a ticket map, lined up with the field in the lidar. The map leaves out Sections 100 and 128 to 132 at the peristyle end; their directions follow the section order between 127 and 101.
Row lists and team sides: rateyourseats.com section notes. The USC and visitor sidelines are also labelled on the official venue map (lacoliseum.com).
Student section, bag rules, water, parking, Metro and tailgating: usctrojans.com. Sunscreen, cashless and smoking: lacoliseum.com. Band parade: sites.usc.edu. LA28 track plans: the Los Angeles Times and The Sports Examiner. Capacity and opening year: Wikipedia.
Sun: NOAA solar position equations. Weather: ERA5 reanalysis and forecasts via Open-Meteo.

How shade is computed

Each section is sampled on 3 lines (left, centre, right) at every row, 9669 seat points in total. For each point the surrounding stadium surface is scanned in every direction the sun can come from to give a horizon profile. A seat is in direct sun when the sun is higher than that horizon. Games are sampled every 10 minutes for 3.5 hours. Neither remaining kickoff is announced yet, so every Big Ten window (9 am, 12:30 pm, 4:30 pm, 7:30 pm Pacific) is modelled.

How rows are placed

The Coliseum is one rake from the field wall to the rim, so a 200 section's rows start behind the rows of the 100 section in front of it, and a 300 section's behind both. One row depth (0.87 m) is measured on the north side, where the whole column is visible. At the curved ends, where the measured rake is shorter than the rows sold, the rows close up evenly to fit it. Rows past the visible rake on the south side sit under the press tower and count as shade.

How the seat views are made

Each view is drawn from a 3D model built from the lidar, from 1.15 m above the seat (seated eye height), facing the field. Only rows open to the sky get a view.

Limits

The lidar was flown in October 2023. No section changes since; the LA28 track deck that will cover the first 14 rows is built after USC's 2027 season.
Row positions at the curved ends are spread to fit the measured rake, so a row there can be off by a few rows' depth.
The ticket map is not drawn to scale, so section directions come from it but section edges can be off by a few seats.
Not modelled: Clubs 401 to 412, the loge boxes and the suites in the south tower.
Light poles and video boards thinner than the 1 m grid may be missed.
No seat view for Sections 300a: rows under cover. Their rows and sun minutes are still shown.

Downloads (CC BY 4.0)

sun-by-section.csv: game, kickoff, section, minutes of sun, shade arrival
sections.json: section geometry and row-by-row sightlines